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Kung Fu Humans Chapter One
KUNG FU HUMANS CHAPTER ONE Empress Ka Lun smiled over her large banquet of food. Her servants sat around her at the long, shining table covered with a pale tablecloth. Ka Lun was sitting at the head of the table, in front of her a large, cooked chicken. Behind the chicken were various foods, dishes, and even many candles to set the mood. Ka Lun stood up and faced her servants, imagining that her husband was with her at that table. "Servants of Emperor Ma Ku Si and me!" she announced. "It is with a great honor that I invite you to dig into the lovely meals our chefs have prepared you, for this is the only night of the year that you will get to feast like an emperor! Let the feast begin!" The servants clapped as she sat down. They did not hesitate to dig into the banquet sitting in front of them, waiting to be eaten. Soon, everyone was eating, talking, and laughing with each other. Ka Lun smiled at herself. She had thought of the idea of letting her servants have a night off to enjoy a feast. It was now an annual celebration. Ka Lun listened to a servant thank her for this wonderful evening as she cut herself a piece of the turkey. "Empress!" Ka Lun was so alarmed by the voice that she dropped her fork onto the floor. The white and black tiger looked up to see a male goose. "Oh, it's you Heng," Ka Lun said, relieved. "Why aren't you eating here like the rest of us?" "I was just in the kitchen getting something," Heng replied nervously. "I actually found this plate in the kitchen. It's the plate you usually use, my Empress. The chicken doesn't look like it was touched." Ka Lun looked down at her servant's wings and noticed her plate made from fine china, with a piece of steaming hot chicken resting on it. The chicken was obviously not touched, but she didn't remember ever putting it there. "Yes! That's my plate," Ka Lun said. "Thank you, Heng." "You're welcome, my empress," Heng said to the tiger, bowing. "Is there anything else I can get for you?" "Yes," Ka Lun said, cutting up the chicken on her plate. "Heng, could you possibly get us some napkins? I can't believe that the servants forgot to put them out." She swallowed a piece of the chicken. "Certainly, my empress," Heng said. The servants then saw his face turn into one of pure horror. Ka Lun's fork slipped out of her hand and clattered on the floor. Wondering what was happening, they looked at where Heng was looking. They were horrified. After swallowing the piece of chicken, Ka Lun's eyes had rolled into the back of her head, and only her whites were showing. Drool dripped down the side of her mouth. She then fell out of the chair like a doll and hit the floor with a crash. Her chest stopped going up and down. She was completely still. Suddenly… The lights went out. Everyone screamed, except for Ka Lun, who didn't do anything. It was five seconds until the lights went on again. Everyone looked around. Heng was gone… ... I looked up, almost not realizing where I was. Then it came to me- ninth period math class. Mrs. Katie was looking at me, a sharp glare in her eyes. The entire class had their eyes on me as well. "Miss Rider?" Mrs. Katie asked. "Look at the line plot on your homework and tell me what the mode is." I looked at my papers- it didn't tell us to calculate the mode. "The mode?" I asked. Mrs. Katie rolled her eyes at me. "Miss Rider, anyone who made the line plot should be able to answer this question!" she exclaimed. Wow. I had been so lost in my daydream that I couldn't even answer the question. Wow, I was stupid. "Number twelve!" I heard a voice whisper. It was the kid sitting next to me, Andrew. "Twelve?" I asked. Andrew face-palmed himself. "Wrong," Mrs. Katie said. "The answer is fifteen." "Oh," I said, realizing my mistake. I wanted to cry. I had just embarrassed myself in front of my entire math class. And I was in the advanced classes. That wasn't expected of me, or anyone in the advanced classes for that matter. And to make it worse, in front of Andrew, my crush since sixth grade! "Kelsi, question twelve!" Andrew whispered. I looked at the paper. Sure enough, the question we had been on was number twelve. Idiot. Who am I? I am Kelsi Rider, an author. Well, sort of. I don't have any books published yet, but soon I'll have some. I am thirteen years old, in seventh grade. I have blonde hair that runs down slightly past my shoulders; blue eyes that look blue-green; and sun tanned skin. If you came to William F. Henting Middle School in Renningville, New York (on Long Island, to be more exact), you would recognize me as the blonde haired girl who's in all the accelerated classes, has glasses shaped like rectangles (I never want to feel like Harry Potter with circular glasses, although I love that series), and is somewhere around five foot four. The bell rang, sounding like music to my ears. "Have a nice weekend everyone," I heard Mrs. Katie say behind me. I was already out the door, running to my locker. I dropped some stuff off and bolted down the hallway. Thank God I had no homework this weekend. ... The walk to the bus circle took about two minutes. I walked up to the front and spotted my bus- bus one. I ran onto it and looked up and down the rows. "Kelsi!" I turned my head towards the middle of the bus, on the right row. My best friends Trinity, an eighth grader, and her younger sister Nicole, a sixth grader, were sitting in the seat by the emergency exit door, where we always sat together. I ran up to the seat and slid down next to them, placing my white, light backpack that was covered in tiny flowers on my lap. "Kelsi, can you switch seats with me?" Nicole asked. "Why?" I questioned. "Because I hate being in the middle," she replied. Trinity is about an inch taller than I am. She has dirty blonde hair that rests on her shoulders, and that's always in a ponytail and pushed back by a headband. Her eyes are a light shade of brown (a color you would call hazel), and her skin is very light. Nicole, her younger sister, is about an inch shorter than I am. She has shoulder length brown hair and eyes that match her hair. Her skin is a shade darker than her older sister's is. "Nicole, I don't want to sit in the middle either," I said. When I was in sixth grade, Trinity and I always sat together on the bus. Nicole was in fifth grade, and we said that when Nicole got into middle school we were going to sit with her, even though the seats were fit for two people. But we were all pretty skinny (Nicole the skinniest, like a twig), so we were sure that it would work. It did, but it would be unfortunate if you're the person in the middle, because there would be ten minutes of non-stop slight squeezing. "Fine," Nicole muttered, lowering herself down. "Well, the weekend is here!" I said, trying to make conversation with the girls. For some reason, I was the one always starting it. "Our second sleepover tonight!" Trinity quietly rejoiced. "Oh yeah, our mom bought the chocolate, the marshmallows and the graham crackers." I could already guess what Mrs. Bacon had prepared for. I looked up towards the front of the bus and saw my younger brother come on. His name is Lance Rider. He has blonde hair, the same color of mine, that goes down to the middle of his neck (dad always tells him that he looks like a turtle, but none of us know what that means, not even dad). His eyes match mine, and so does his skin color. If he wasn't around five feet tall and was the same height as me, we would be like twins (everyone thinks we are). But a year and three months separate us. Following Lance was Nicky, a friend of Lance's from our block. I stretched out on the seat as the doors to the bus closed and the large vehicle started moving out of the bus circle. I heard a vibrating noise coming from Trinity. She dug her hands into her pockets and pulled out a cell phone. "It's from Eddy," she said while opening it up. I rolled my eyes. "What does he have to say for himself now?" I asked. "It says… 'Your bunny is so fat'," Nicole read. "I get another fifty cents!" Trinity laughed. "That was insult thirty five?" I asked. Trinity nodded. I looked over the seat in front of us. Sitting there was Edward Kelly. "You know that you owe Trinity another fifty cents, right?" I asked him. "That was number thirty five?" he asked. I nodded. "Dang it!" he screamed. When I was in the sixth grade, Trinity drew a picture of a fat bunny. Edward saw it and has been making fun of it ever since. Trinity told him that if he wants to insult her bunny thirty five times, he has to give Trinity fifty cents. He agreed. We always counted up, and when he got to thirty-five, he had to give Trinity another fifty cents to keep insulting her bunny. "Tell Trinity that her bunny's so fat," Eddy teased. I sat down and turned to Trinity. "Eddy says that your bunny's so fat," I repeated. "That was number thirty six!" Trinity called over the seat. We laughed. ... At three o' clock the bus entered Lint Street, the street we all live on. Lint Street is shaped like a gigantic oval. The way you get in is the way you get out. In the middle of Lint Street is a court. Everyone calls it Lint Court, or just 'The Court'. My house is the white one, right at the entrance of Lint Court, on the right. It's facing away from Lint Court, so it's technically on Lint Street. Trinity and Nicole's house is the blue high ranch on the right side of Lint Court. The bus stopped in front of my house, where the bus stop is. We were always the first ones to be dropped off and the last to be picked up. It was the perfect bus schedule. I walked off of the bus, Trinity and Nicole following me. I bade them good-bye and ran towards my front door, the early April air blowing in through my long, slightly curly blonde hair. "Hey, wait for me!" Lance called, running after me. Mom was sitting in the living room playing on her computer games. "Hey kids," she greeted. If you first saw my mom, you wouldn't know that we're related at all. She has the same eyes as Lance and I, but that's about it for resemblance. Her hair is a chocolate brown with a little gray mixed into it and goes up to halfway down her neck. Her skin is a slightly tanner shade than Lance and mine. Overall, she looks almost nothing like her children. Same thing with my dad. He just has the same eyes as his wife and kids, but his black and gray hair and appearance look nothing like me and mom. A lot of people think that Lance and dad look alike, and dad agrees, but Lance, mom, and I don't think so. "Hey mom," Lance and I said in unison. Lance sat down on the couch, while I went into the kitchen. All that schoolwork had made me hungry. "How was school?" mom asked us. "Good," I replied. "Boring," said Lance. "When is it not boring?" I asked, stealing mom's line. "I have so much homework!" Lance complained. "I have none," I said, grabbing a brownie from the half-empty pan on the counter. "Lucky!" Lance exclaimed. I rolled my eyes, taking a bite of my brownie. "So, mom, how was work? Were the kids bratty?" I asked. Mom looked up and nodded. "You wouldn't even believe what goes on in that cafeteria," she complained. "Screaming kids, whining children- and the kindergartners They're the worst. They don't listen at all!" Our mom works as a lunch lady at the cafeteria of the elementary school that Lance and I had gone to. She began working there a few months after my dad lost his job when I was in fourth grade. She gets paid little, but at least it's something. I took another brownie, tossed it to Lance, and started upstairs, telling everyone where I was going first. After trudging up the stairs and down the very short hall, I was in my room. The walls were painted yellow; they had been since my father found out that his wife was pregnant with her first child. My carpet was a cyan color. The walls were decorated with drawings, photos, and pictures of various things. On the wall where my door is, is what I call the 'Epic Wall of Epicness', a wall where I have taped pictures that I think are 'epic' for the past year or so. So far it is full of drawings (that I have drawn or have been drawn by different people), photos (of myself and my friends and family), and things that I have kept over the years (my tenth birthday card from Trinity, my ticket to my fifth grade field trip to the Bronx Zoo, a mini American Flag, etc.). My window is on the back of the house, so I can see the backyard and some of Lint Court. I thought about math class- I was daydreaming. Yeah, of course I was. I daydream pretty much all the time. About what, you ask? You know, stuff… okay, fine, you win. I daydream about Kung Fu Panda. Well, not necessarily that, but about myself, or characters I created, in my favorite movies, cartoons, stories, etc. The only people who know about this is Trinity, Nicole… and Lance. Telling my brother was a mistake. He told two other people about it for revenge- our friends Henry and Kevin Langen. He never told anyone else. So my secret is safe. But I really do long to finally meet Po from Kung Fu Panda one day. I put it on my bucket list, but I doubt it's ever going to happen. What I did not know was that today, in April of 2013, I was going to have one of my biggest wishes come true...